I would like to draw attention to a previous post of mine:
http://evancarroll.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-will-i-think-of-next.html
I think of our government system as on a continuum of evolution. It will either flourish, or become extinct.
Our national government is really quite young and there is no reason that it won't become extinct. Monarchies have lasted much longer. Dictatorships have lasted much longer. Smaller, social governing or self ruling methods of indigenous peoples have lasted the longest.
The reason we like (the U.S. of) America is because of its aspirations. It's an amazing concept. . . give every person the same chance at life, liberty and happiness. The question of course is how to deliver on this promise. . .
I am officially fed up with the crucifixion of the incumbent. . . unless of course you see the two major parties collectively as the incumbent. If you see it that way then I'm with you. . . let's get out our torches and pitchforks!
It's becoming more and more obvious that we are in a bi-partisan stagnation. Whatever happens in elections two years from now will surely be reversed in four years.
(This has officially been a rant.)All that I am trying to say is that unless we find a way to alter the two party system then I'm not going to expect much.
Right now instant-runoff voting sounds pretty good to me. It would allow people to vote for their favorite candidate without concern for political strategy. Americans have become too political. Politics - literally - are about maneuvering and manipulating, and that is simply not a positive way of thinking about things.
That is my stance: I'm not interested in politics; i'm interested in DOING things. I (perhaps naively) think that a country could be run this way. Give me my instant-runoff voting, and let us all vote for what we believe in.
I prefer Approval Voting myself, but IRV ain't bad either!
ReplyDelete-Toph
I'm with you for the most part Evan, but I think you're too focussed on the idea of voting. Unfortunately most power is concentrated in unconstitutional positions that are assigned and never voted on by the public at large, especially at the federal level. The two party system, as you note, also limits our options to a point where we are voting for the lesser of two evils, and rarely for actual representation. This in a country where we hand over more of our income then indentured serfs in the feudal Europe (they only had to give 25% of their crops/income).
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, for what it's worth, we need to get back to the basic concept of a government restrained by the basic laws of a republic that protects even the minority of people in the face of majority voting. When politicians have less power to be corrupted by, and their decisions are restrained then elections matter less.
Toph! Approval voting looks like a great idea too! Brian. . . I know what you mean. It seems like majority vote no longer serves, and we should use "gross majority vote" or something. . . requiring 2/3 or 3/4 for approval.
ReplyDeleteNice rant Evan! The main problem with the government right now is that it does less governing and more campaigning. Everything is a campaign now. The politicians are more interested in scoring political points based on the snap-judgments of mostly-uninformed citizens, many of whom have better things to do than sit around and read bills.
ReplyDelete24-hour news channels have few this campaign-type atmosphere, increasing and perpetuating it exponentially.
If we really want our government to start governing again, we need to stop watching 24-hour news channels; all three of them.
Ben, you just reminded me of yet another reason to be thankful I only have basic cable. That's a very good point!
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